Friday, September 24, 2010

Seek The Lord




Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these things will be added unto you. Matt 6:33



When we have ideas presented to us that we don’t know where they come from, we need to pray.

When we receive blessings from God through others, we need to give thanks.

When we hear of someone hurting physically, we need to lift them up to God in prayer.

When we know of people who are facing this world without hope, we need to knock on the doors of heaven until we get an answer.

When we know of friends who face family issues in their lives, we ask God to guide them through.

When things seem to go against us, we need to check and see if we are right in our relationship with God.

What am I saying here? We need to pray, pray and then pray some more. With the present state of the world, we can’t do anything but pray.

Whenever we have tough decisions to make, we need the Lord’s guidance. He tells us to seek Him. His message is to approach Him first.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Look To The Lord




1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness

and who seek the LORD:

Look to the rock from which you were cut

and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

Isaiah 51:1 (NIV)



We hear of strange behaviors in people’s lives, sometimes, the tales we hear are of people who receive mistreatment from others. Then, we hear stories of those who say or do hurtful things in order to cause problems to those who earlier received the malicious treatment.

As I sit her in the quiet of my home, I wonder why people have to inflict those around them with such grief. Those who receive these hurts find themselves hard-pressed in dealing with those who repeatedly choose to cause hurt.

We live in trying times, unemployment, health issues, and general unrest abounds everywhere we look. These circumstances do not respect any age group, any socioeconomic class, or people in any career.

People of Christ aren’t exempt from these tribulations. We have learned that certain trials beset us because we are still human; we call them issues of life.

What can we do to conquer these vexations? I have seen people act prideful and choose to ignore the issues at hand. Their thinking is that the circumstance will go away on its own. Others choose to aggressively fight the situation. We see this when they or their loved one has a life-threatening disease. Sometimes, this approach has a positive outcome. I recently heard of a family who had less than a week to deal with the health issue of a loved one before he passed away. The family is relying on God to comfort them. At other times, the outcome is a negative one. We all know of families that have lost fellowship with one another because someone said something that caused hurt to another.

From time to time we have to prioritize our lives. We have to make our relationship with God real and lasting. We have to let Him direct our ways.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Trust





Trust the Lord your God with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him and he

will make your paths straight Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)



I have loved this verse since I discovered it in the mid 1980s. It spoke to me then and still speaks to me today.

The words from Solomon, the wisest man in the world, say a lot to us. In a few short words he tells us to rely on God not what we know. God sees the big picture. We only see a tiny part of it.

Our understanding is finite, limited to our perspective. God’s knowledge of us and our circumstances is unlimited. He was there when we were created. He knows all about us, even what makes us do the things we do.

There is a conditional promise in this passage.

“. . . in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” In the King James the promise reads, “. . .He will direct thy paths.” We, as His children, want God to take the nasty curves out of our lives. These trials come to all of us; they are a part of life. But God will help us through these rough spots.

The foundation of this promise is our trusting God. It seems we have to rely on Him, depend on what He says, and believe He controls our lives in order for God to truly care for our needs.

God Alone

  Jesus and the children at our church's prayer walk.          I will both lie down in peace and sleep;  For You alone, O LORD make ...